JOHANNESBURG – A non-profit organisation has this week hosted more than 100 young and budding software developers over two days in its ambitious bid to digitise farming and empower the youth.
The organisation, Empire Partner Foundation, hosted a hackathon in Illovo over two days this week where it hosted over 100 young and budding software developers.
The aim of the hackathon was to create awareness and empower the youth to design innovative solutions to address challenges around farming communities, they said.
The foundation wants to find digital solutions with the youth in software development, finance, marketing and business to enhance productivity and profitability of farming.
The foundation’s Mikhail Mariemuthu said agriculture was just one of the 10 challenges they were focusing on and that youth development was at the centre of their initiatives.
“We believe that empowering communities and small-scale farmers with innovative tech solutions will not only transform the agriculture industry but allow communities to become small-scale farmers themselves and help support their own families,” he said.
Mariemuthu said they were challenging innovators they worked with to solve the most pressing issues facing modern agriculture.
He said solutions that were sustainable would be given space and support to enable that they came to life.
Team Tech Swat, which comprised Manqobi Happy Mabena, 19, Lerato Tlhako, 19, Lethabo Makopo, 20, Danielle Mokoena, 21, and Nozipho Mashapa, 27, took the first prize during the hackathon when they designed a smart automated agricultural system application which would enable farmers to auction their products and livestock digitally.
Their application was also designed with a live meet functionality for auctions and seminars, a chat platform and a live AI assistant for agricultural business advice.
Tlhako, who was the team leader, said they were honoured and humbled to be the victorious team.
“We are still amazed by the fact that the judges chose our solution,” she said.
“We are excited and happy to be the winners of this hackathon especially with the fact that there are a lot of women in the team.
“We see our success inspiring young developers in inventing more solution platforms. It inspires young developers to be intentional about their careers in tech so they can also reap these very benefits,” she said.
Over 700 young people have taken part in the hackathon and the foundation has incubated more than 10 winning teams who have designed solutions for water, Sassa grant payments, health care and education.
Mariemuthu said the hackathons were creating a culture of innovation among the youth.
IOL